Ultimate Ears BOOM 2 And UE MEGABOOM Get Amazon Alexa Support

Ultimate Ears has announced the arrival of Amazon Alexa support for its UE BOOM 2 and UE MEGABOOM speakers, enabling both to be used as smart speakers in conjunction with an Android smartphone. The new functionality arrives in the form of app and firmware updates, all of which are free, of course. Once updated, using Alexa with the speaker is as simple as tapping a button.

Neither of these speakers are new, at least not in the sense that they're part of this announcement. These two models launched previously and have proven popular for the company, which is expanding their usefulness via updates pushed out to the UE MEGABOOM and UE BOOM Android apps; you can find both of them on the Google Play Store.

The feature, it should be noted, is only available for Android, and it spans customers located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Once the apps are updated, Ultimate Ears explains that users with either speaker can use 'Just Tap and Ask' to tap a single button, then ask Alexa something. Amazon's personal assistant will respond through the speaker.

You'll need to have the speaker(s) paired with your smartphone over Bluetooth, of course. If you happen to be a Google Pixel, Huawei Mate 9, or OnePlus handset owner, bad news: Ultimate Ears says this update isn't available for your phone due to 'known experience reasons.' When or if the functionality will be made available on these phones isn't clear.